This invention relates to a device for facilitating measurement of loaded cartridge lengths in relation to the longitudinal chamber of a rifle or similar firearm. It is designed specifically for use in presetting reloading equipment prior to accurate seating of bullets in a cartridge case.
Every rifle and firearm has slightly different longitudinal dimensions along the chamber between the bolt face and the leading edge of the rifling lands. It is important to a reloader to seat each bullet accurately and to assure consistent bullet clearance in the chamber. Because the shapes of bullets differ, it is presently necessary to determine the seating depth of each form of bullet for each rifle or firearm by tedious trial and error methods which must be constantly repaeated.
This disclosure relates to a guage that serves as a replica in length of the rifle chamber. Once the guage has been adjusted to match the chamber length of a particular rifle, it can be used to guage the length of any bullet being loaded for use with that rifle. The tedious trial and error methods for matching effective loaded cartridge length to the rifle chamber need be carried out only once during initial set-up of the guage.
The guage basically comprises a caliber cap and a telescopically connected body. The cap has an aperture formed within it, including an edge matching the land diameter of the rifle. The coaxial body is movably adjustable with respect to the caliber cap along their common axis. It has inside surfaces capable of aligning a loaded cartridge case and bullet along the aperture axis. Once the body and caliber cap have been axially positioned to match the longitudinal dimension of a particular rifle chamber, any bullet can be placed within the guage to compare its effective length against the chamber dimension.